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The Voices of Emanu El Podcast

The Voices of Emanu El Podcast

By: Emanu El Houston
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About this listen

The Voices of Emanu El is the podcast from Congregation Emanu El in Houston, Texas. Each week, you’ll hear sermons and reflections from our clergy team, and engaging conversations that explore our faith, traditions, community and the music of Emanu El. Whether you’re joining us for the first time or you’ve been part of our community for years, these are the voices of Emanu El.

Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
Judaism Spirituality
Episodes
  • Blessing the Mothers: Love, Loss, and Legacy
    Dec 18 2025

    On this Mother’s Day Shabbat, Rabbi Pam Silk reflects on the many faces of motherhood: joy and exhaustion, gratitude and grief, presence and absence. Drawing on Torah, contemporary stories, and the language of Jewish blessing, she honors mothers, grandmothers, caregivers, and all who “mother” in less conventional ways, while making space for those who find this day complicated or painful. This heartfelt sermon invites listeners to name the women who shaped them and to carry their love forward with tenderness and intention.

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    10 mins
  • Holding On and Letting Go: Shabbat in a Time of Terror and Hate
    Dec 18 2025

    In this searing Shabbat sermon, Rabbi Pam Silk departs from her planned d’var Torah on the Jubilee year to confront the anguish unleashed by the murders of two young Jews, Sarah Milgram and Yaron Lishinsky, in Washington, DC. She names their killings as an act of terrorism fueled by anti-semitism, exposes how contemporary anti-zionism often masks and amplifies Jew-hatred, and reflects on the chilling reality of Jews being targeted simply for learning, worshiping, and gathering in Jewish spaces. Even as she refuses to minimize the pain, Rabbi Silk turns to the Torah’s call to Shabbat as a sacred pause — a “container, a frame around the chaos, a breath between the screams” — that can steady frightened souls and replenish the courage to live openly, proudly, enthusiastically Jewish in a world where hatred has grown louder and more acceptable.

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    10 mins
  • Kindling the Light: Baha’alotecha and Finding Clarity in the Cloud
    Dec 18 2025

    Rabbi Pam Silk begins with a childhood memory of being told to “turn off the lights,” then turns to Parashat Baha’alotecha to explore the menorah, the divine cloud, and the fire that guided our ancestors through the wilderness. She reflects on how intentional light — both physical and spiritual — can orient us when we feel stuck under “cloud cover,” craving certainty yet unsure where to go next. This uplifting sermon calls listeners to keep kindling their inner lamps, to share their brightness with others, and to trust that God’s guiding fire will eventually illuminate the path ahead.

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    9 mins
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